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Early life and careerSergei Diaghilev was born to a wealthy family in Perm, Russia toward the end of its age of empire. Sent to the capital to study law at St. Petersburg University, he ended up also taking classes at the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music where he studied singing and music (a love of which he had picked up from his stepmother). After graduating in 1892 he abandoned his dreams of composition (his professor, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, told him he had no talent for music), when he came into an influential circle of artists later referred to as the Pickwickians: Alexandre Benois, Walter Nouvel, Konstantin Somov, Vladimir Dmitrievitch Filosofov and Léon Bakst. Although not instantly received into the group, Benois aided Diaghilev by developing his knowledge of Russian and Western Art. In two years, he had voraciously absorbed this new obsession (even travelling abroad to further his studies) and came to be respected as one of the most learned of the group.
Image:Bakst daighilev.jpg Portrait of Serge Diaghilev with His Nanny, by Léon Bakst (1906). Having taken a recent interest in the world of Ballet, Diaghilev pushed for a revival of Léo Delibes' ballet Sylvia, a favorite of Benois'. The two collaborators concocted an elaborate production plan that startled the established personnel of the Imperial Theatres. After several increasingly antagonistic differences of opinion, Diaghilev was asked to resign in 1901 and left disgraced in the eyes of the nobility. Ballets RussesDiaghilev's friends stayed true, following him and helping to put on exhibitions. In 1905 he mounted an exhibition of Russian portrait painting in St Petersburg and in the following year took a major exhibition of Russian art to the Petit Palais in Paris. It was the beginning of a long involvement with France. In 1907 he presented five concerts of Russian music in Paris, and in 1908 mounted a production of Boris Godunov, starring Fyodor Chaliapin, at the Paris Opera. This led to an invitation to return the following year with ballet as well as opera, and thus to the launching of his famous Ballets Russes. The company included the best young Russian dancers, among them Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vera Karalli, and their first night on 19 May 1909 was a sensation.
The artistic director for the Ballets Russes was Léon Bakst. Together they developed a more complicated form of ballet with show-elements intended to appeal to the general public, rather than solely the aristocracy. The exotic appeal of the Ballets Russes had an effect on Fauvist painters and the nascent Art Deco style. Perhaps Diaghilev's most notable composer collaborator, however, was Igor Stravinsky. Diaghilev heard Stravinsky's early orchestral works Fireworks and Scherzo Fantastique, and was impressed enough to ask Stravinsky to arrange some pieces by Frédéric Chopin for the Ballets Russes. In 1910, he commissioned his first score from Stravinsky, The Firebird. Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) followed shortly afterwards, and the two also worked together on Pulcinella (1920) and Les Noces (1923). After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Diaghilev stayed abroad. The new Soviet regime, once it became obvious that he could not be lured back, condemned him in perpetuity as an especially insidious example of bourgeois decadence. Soviet art historians wrote him out of the picture for more than 60 years. Diaghilev staged “The Sleeping Beauty” of Tchaikovsky in London in 1921; despite being well received by the public it was not a financial success. The first cast included the legendary ballerina Olga Spessivtseva. Diaghilev insisted on calling the ballet The Sleeping Princess. When asked why, he quipped, "Because I have no beauties!" The later years of the Ballets Russes were often considered too "intellectual", too "stylish" and seldom had the unconditional success of the first few seasons, although younger choreographers like George Balanchine hit their stride with the Ballet Russes. The end of the 19th century brought a development in the handling of tonality, harmony, rhythm and meter towards more freedom. Until that time, rigid harmonic schemes had forced rhythmic patterns to stay fairly uncomplicated. Around the turn of the century, however, harmonic and metric devices became either more rigid, or much more unpredictable, and each approach had a liberating effect on rhythm, which also affected ballet. Diaghilev was a pioneer in adapting these new musical styles to modern ballet. When Ravel used a 5/4 time in the final part of his ballet Daphnis and Chloé (1912), dancers of the Ballets Russes sang Ser-ge-dia-ghi-lev during rehearsals to keep the correct rhythm. Members of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes later went on to found ballet traditions in the United States (George Balanchine) and England (Ninette de Valois and Marie Rambert). Ballet master Serge Lifar went on to revive the Paris Opera. Personal lifeDiaghilev engaged in a number of homosexual relationships over the course of his life - among others with Boris Kochno, his secretary from 1921 until the end of his life, with his cousin, Dima Filasofov, and at least four dancers in his ballet company, Vaslav Nijinsky, Leonide Massine, Anton Dolin, and Serge Lifar. He had a close platonic relationship with two women, Misia Sert and the dancer Karsavina, to both of whom he said he would have liked to be married. Diaghilev was known as a hard, demanding, even frightening taskmaster. Ninette de Valois, no shrinking violet, said she was too afraid to ever look at him in the face. George Balanchine said he carried around a cane during rehearsals, and banged it angrily when he was displeased. Other dancers said he would shoot them down with one look, or a cold comment. Diaghilev dismissed Nijinsky summarily from the Ballets Russes after his marriage in 1913. The dancer appeared again with the company, but the old relationship between the men was never re-established. Their last meeting was after Nijinsky's mind had given way, and he appeared not to recognise his former lover. Dancers such as Alicia Markova, Tamara Karsavina, Serge Lifar, and Lydia Sokolova remembered Diaghilev fondly, as a stern but kind father-figure who put the needs of his dancers and company above his own. As Lifar said, he died with two coats, and practically no money in his bank account. He lived from paycheck to paycheck to finance his company. Markova was very young when she joined the Ballet Russes and she would later in life say that she called Diaghilev "Sergypops" and he would take care of her like a daughter. The movie The Red Shoes is a thinly disguised dramatization of the Ballet Russes. He died in Venice, Italy, on August 19, 1929, and is buried on the nearby island of San Michele. See also
Wikimedia CommonsTemplate:Commonsca:Sergei Diaghilev de:Sergei Pawlowitsch Djagilew es:Serguei Diaghilev fr:Serge de Diaghilev ko:세르게이 디아길레프 it:Sergej Diaghilev ka:დიაგილევი, სერგეი hu:Szergej Gyagilev nl:Serge Diaghilev ja:セルゲイ・ディアギレフ pt:Sergei Diaguilev ru:Дягилев, Сергей Павлович fi:Sergei Djagilev sv:Sergej Djagilev
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